


This club . . . is filled with incredibly cute girls! [and you're one of them]

by DevinTowerwood



Category: Doki Doki Literature Club! (Visual Novel)
Genre: Bisexual Protagonist, F/F, Fluff, Frankenstein's Creation!Natsuki, Multi, Polyamory, Romance, Second-Person POV, Smut likely in later chapters, Trans!Yuri, Vampire! Yuri, inspired by Monster Pop, inspired by Monster Prom, inspired by Santa Clarita Diet, kitsune!Rose, nb!Sayori, nb!Yuri, night hag!Sayori
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2019-09-02 01:15:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16776685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DevinTowerwood/pseuds/DevinTowerwood
Summary: You're a freshmen at university when you meet the members of Doki Doki Literature Club, a club filled with cute, queer kids who like poetry and tabletop games. One of them in particular, a third-year named Yuri catches your eye. And hey, you've been wanting a girlfriend all year . . .Oh, did I forget to mention: they're all monsters, including you.





	1. Chapter 1

It’s one of the warmest days you’ve had in a while, and you’re carefully weaving your way through the crowd of the university square. There is a clubs’ fair going on right now that you forgot about entirely, otherwise you could have just taken the long way around and avoided having to artfully dodge your classmates and the dozens of tables they’ve erected along every walking path. Just as you’ve convinced yourself that the increase in foot traffic in made up for by how slowly and carefully everyone is walking, someone slams right into your side, bowling you over and spilling their papers around you.

“Oh my goodness!” they cry out before you’ve even had the chance to complain about dropping to the pavement, “I’m so sorry!”

“Don’t worry about it,” you reply, picking yourself up as quick as you can, “it happens all the time.”

The girl who ran into you is tall, with dyed violet hair, and pale, sallow skin. She’s hurriedly picking up the papers that spilled from her binder, so you grab a few to feel like less of an ass (even if _she_ ran into _you_ ) and offer them up.

“It was definitely my fault, but, thank you for-” the girl flinches and cuts off as she reaches out to accept the papers you’re holding. It’s a typical enough response, but it’s a little sad when someone cute makes it. Her shocked expression is undercut by flat, pupil-less eyes, and that’s the last detail you’re able to notice before she snatches the papers from your hands and dashes away.

You’re left to simmer in embarrassment for a moment, people walking around the spot where she ran into you as they’re keenly aware of your presence for the time being, but just as you’re ready to dash back into the crowd, you hear someone call:

“Invisibility, huh? That’s a neat trick.”

You spin around to find the person who spoke, eventually noticing the girl behind one of the club desks waving, smiling when you glance her way. She was clearly trying to get your attention, so you’d feel rude just walking away, especially as she’s clearly spotted you. You have no choice but to respond at this point, right?

You mosey over to the girl’s table, and she and the other girl working at the desk smile. The one who acknowledged you is tall, with long red-brown hair and the charismatic smile of someone who actually likes tabling at club fairs. Her companion is short, with messy dyed hair and the eyes of an insomniac. They both look human, and the girl who waved is much better at tracking you with her eyes than most people are.

“Are you doing okay?” she asks, tilting her head curiously. “Yuri was in a hurry, she probably didn’t even see you.”

You chuckle, rubbing your palms where they hurt and reply, “Ha, yeah, I mean, it happens all the time. I’m fine – I’m basically fall-resistant at this point.”

The other girl is looking past you until finally she points and says, “I like your pan pin! It’s very cute. Who’s the character?”

You relax quickly – somebody recognizing a pride flag and not a character always goes a lot better than the other way around.

You say, “Oh, um, Alphys. She’s from a video game.”

As if struck with a sudden realization, that girl goes bug-eyed, looks at her friend, then back at you. “Wait, wait, so you’re queer, and a monster, and some genre of geek . . . you should come to the Literature Club!”

Whether or not you’re a monster has always been something of a debate (at least to yourself and other monsters), but you’ve clearly stumbled upon an important combination, so you just say, “Ah?”

The tall girl laughs and says, “Sayori’s just getting excited, don’t mind her.” She reaches over and pats her friend’s head a few times, then turns her attention back to you. “We’re Doki Doki Literature Club,” she says, offering you a pamphlet, “separate from the Literature Club. We’re mostly the same, just a bit broader, and, well, we’re quite small at the moment. I’m the Chair, Monika, and this is my co-Chair, Sayori.”

“Hey,” Sayori says with a small wave, beaming.

“Oh, hey!” you reply, animated, “yeah, I know you guys. My roommate’s in your club. Natsuki?”

Sayori throws her hands up in the air in excitement, “Oh, I love Natsuki!”

You and Monika both laugh at her enthusiasm, then Monika follows up with, “Well, then, you must be Amy, right? Natsuki mentioned that her roommate was invisible. I gotta admit, though, I thought she was being figurative up until now.”

You scratch the back of your head nervously and say, “Well, it kinda works both ways, I think.”

That brings an unwelcome wave of awkwardness to the conversation, and you all just smile for a moment.

Finally, Sayori breaks in and says, “So, Amy, you should come hang out with us sometime! Our club is really cool and really gay and we’re all monsters! I bet you’d really like it.”

Sayori didn’t need to give you much of a talk for you to start seriously considering attending. Everything about Monika – from her silky hair to her cute laugh and strangely penetrating eye contact – is alluring to you, and you’ve been desperate to spend time with cute girls since the start of the quarter, now that you’re more settled in at school. Sayori seems like a fun person as well, you’re just not sure how much you’d be into literature.

“Haha, I’ll think about it,” you say, leafing through the pamphlet. You notice there are no pictures of club members, only the room that they meet in, but if everyone’s a gay monster, then you trust there will be more people who are your type there.

As you turn to go, Sayori calls (too loudly), “Ooh, say hi to Natsuki for me!”

You wave the pamphlet as you turn to go so they can see the gesture; “Can do!”

Natsuki arrives home much later than you do, so you’re in the middle of a game of _Overwatch_ and completely miss it when she shows up. Almost as soon as the game is over, though, you feel her tap on your shoulder, pull off your head set, and glance behind you. It takes you a few seconds to realize she’s waving the Doki Doki Literature Club pamphlet in front of you, at which point you turn your chair around.

“Where’d you get this?” she asks, putting it on front of your face again as if you haven’t already seen it.

“They were tabling,” you reply, “and they saw someone run into me and said hi. I met the chairs, uh, they seemed nice.”

“Oh, neat,” she says, dropping the pamphlet back on to your bed. “Did Monika invite you to come out sometime?”

You scratch the side of your head. “Yep. I . . . probably will?”

Natsuki glances over from her side of the room and smirks. Her facial expressions can get wildly disconcerting when she emotes thanks to the fact that her face, forehead, and jaw were all pieced together from different sources – even though the skin all healed together soon after she entered school, the disjointed underlying structure can be a little terrifying.

She says, “A-ha – what? Did you see Monika and change your tune about going to clubs?”

“I never said I was against being in a club, just that I didn’t have time. And that was last quarter!” you protest, dancing around Natsuki’s actual, completely correct, accusation. “Besides, you told me you contribute manga and stuff for it, so it must be a pretty chill club.”

She puts her hands on her hips, clearly satisfied that she has you pegged. “Oh, it is. But is that why you’re going?”

You only glare in reply for a long moment, then return your attention to _Overwatch_.

You decide to arrive early to your first meeting, which is apparently held in a student-controlled building in the center of campus on the second floor. Even accounting for the decent amount of wandering it takes you to find it, you still arrive on the second floor ten minutes before the scheduled meeting time, which occurs to you as a possible mistake too late. The first thing that you notice is that the designated room has windows, which show an empty and unlit room. The second thing you notice is the sound of someone turning a page behind you, prompting you to spin around.

Sitting on a couch across from the empty room is the girl who ran into you a few days ago, the one with dyed violet hair and the dead-looking eyes, reading a novel. You have no idea how you didn’t notice her there before!

Thinking she must have seen you jump in surprise, you apologize:

“Oh, jeeze, I’m sorry, I just didn’t see you th-”

When she glances up, she looks straight at you, then suddenly screams, cutting you off mid-sentence.

_Oh shit_.

“Um, sorry, yeah, I’m just invisible! But I’m not like a ghost or anything, just . . .” she’s stopped screaming by this point, but the scream left you a little off-balance and you’re struggling to get your spiel out.

“I’m just, you know. Invisible,” you finally conclude.

She keeps looking at you in shock for a few seconds, then suddenly raises her book and plants her face in it.

“Oh, god, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scream,” she says as she slowly lowers the book, her flat eyes showing over the pages.

You think she’s going to say more, but when there’s no follow-up, you say, “I’m Amy, by the way. Are you here for the Literature Club?”

She finally lowers the book from her face, tilting her head curiously. She has so much hair and she’s taken no effort to pin it in place, so it spills over her shoulders and chest whenever she moves her head. The way it shimmers fascinates you, but you wonder how it doesn’t drive her crazy.

“Yeah, I am. I’m Yuri. Are you here for the meeting, too, then?”

You shrug, peeling your satchel off and placing it against the edge of the couch.

“I guess so. I saw you guys tabling a few days ago and decided I’d try it out.”

She nods slowly but doesn’t really reply. She’s reserved and probably still a little on edge, so you take a leading step in the conversation, so she can get used to talking when there’s no clear person she’s talking to.

“What’re you reading?”

She blinks in confusion, then glances down at her book. Finally, she lifts it so you can see the cover. She says, “ _Portrait of Markov_. It’s a horror spin on popular young adult fiction, I suppose.”

Young adult fiction and horror . . . not exactly your favorites, but an interesting blend, nonetheless. Considering how much young adult fiction revolves around killing off teenagers left and right, though, it’s probably either a superficial regurgitation of _Hunger Games_ that lingers too long on body horror or some surrealist take on a love triangle, and at least one of those could be good.

Before you force yourself to come up with a follow-up question, Yuri asks, “So, what interests you about this literature club?”

_Cute girls, mostly_ , you think to yourself. You don’t have a convenient other explanation ready, so you just try to phrase it a little less directly:

“Oh, you know. Monika saw me after we ran into each other at the club fair, then Sayori-”

“Wait, you and Monika? Ran into each other?” she asks.

You shake your head. “No, you and me?”

You only get a blank look in reply, so you continue, “You ran into me and dropped your binder, then I helped pick up your papers and . . .”

It’s incredibly obvious when Yuri blushes considering how pale she is most of the time, and she flushes red more suddenly than you’ve ever seen, almost comically so. “Th-that was you! You were just invisible! I’m so sorry I ran into you.”

You sit on the edge of the couch, and she backs up a little as she faces you, trying to gauge appropriate conversation distance.

“Don’t worry about it. Like I said, it happens all the time. Plus, that got Monika to talk to me, so it kind of works out, huh?”

She shrugs, brushing her hair forward as if to hide behind it. “I suppose so . . .”

You fall back into silence, but it’s less uncomfortable this time. Yuri puts a bookmark in and sets _Portrait_ aside, clearly searching for a new conversation topic.

You don’t really have one, but you’ve wanted to compliment her the entire time you’ve been talking, so you just go for it. “Oh, um, I like your dye job by the way. It’s really even and, uh, shiny.”

You’ve always liked dyed hair, but although the dye may show up for a little bit after you apply it, once your invisibility recognizes it as part of your body, it vanishes with the rest of you.

“Oh, thanks,” she says, fiddling with the ends a little. “It thankfully doesn’t take a lot of work, since it doesn’t grow without magic.”

She may not be able to see your expression, but somehow she reads your confusion and says, “Because I’m a vampire. I’m dead, see, so no hair growth.”

“Oh that’s rad! I mean, maybe not the dead bit, but, y’know, vampires are cool.”

The sound of two other people approaching draws your attention away from Yuri’s blushing face again, and a moment later, Monika and a black-haired kid round the corner

The black-haired kid does a double take when they notice you, but Monika just waves. “Glad you two are getting to know each other, huh?” she says, pulling out an ID and swiping it at the door. A green light beside the sensor lights up, and she pulls the door open.

“Hey Rose! Hey Monika,” Yuri says, grabbing her book and bag and getting up from the couch.

Rose takes a few seconds to gauge where your face must be, plasters on a smile, and says, “Heya, I’m Rose. You here for the club?”

“I guess so,” you reply, trying your best to sound enthused.

The club room isn’t very large – a 5x5m square dominated by a large circular table, a wall of computers with overhead cabinets, and a coffee/tea station in the far corner. The table intimidates you, so you just mosey along to a pair of couches in the corner, dump your bag beside it, and sit on the arm rest. To your pleasant surprise, Yuri sets her stuff on the other couch near you. Rose and Monika continue whatever conversation they were having, so you don’t feel the need to split your attention further between three new people.

“Who wants some tea?” Yuri asks, already skirting around the table to get to the corner table.

“Ooh, me,” you answer quickly. Rose also raises their hand.

“None for me, thanks,” Monika says.

The tea station is a little rough – there’s a sink for water, but the kettle goes on a butane stove for camping that you’re surprised is allowed indoors (it’s not). There’s a few boxes of tea flavors hidden behind a container of coffee grounds that Yuri rifles through for a moment before turning back towards you.

“Is strawberry chocolate good with you?”

You perk up a little. “Totally!” You love sweet stuff, after all.

You check your phone for the time – a few minutes after when the club is supposed to start. You decide to bug Natsuki, so you open Snapchat and take a selfie. It’s a pointless gesture given that it’s literally just a picture of the wall behind you, but Natsuki is used to it by now. You decide to draw a smiley face, so she knows you’re sincere when you caption it, ‘Nice club you’ve got here.’

Yuri puts three cups of tea on the table to steep, and Rose leans over half the table to drag theirs over. Then, Yuri brings your tea with her back to the couch.

You fidget with the tea bag while it steeps. “So, Yuri. Why are _you_ involved in literature? Is it your major?”

She nods, pauses, then shakes her head. “Er, no, I suppose. It was my major, but I switched to linguistics last year when Monika and Sayori started this club. I like reading and I like writing, but I prefer it as a hobby.

“Oh, you’re a writer! What do you write?”

“Oh, um. Short stories and poetry, mostly. Mysteries, romance, and horror, and mixtures of the three are where I feel comfortable.” She blushes again, then adds softly, “I’m actually – actually writing a novel right now, but that’s what I’ve been saying for the past year, so I’m not sure how much I could claim to be ‘writing it’ versus ‘procrastinating and getting anxious just thinking about it.’”

“Whoah, that’s super cool! The fact that you’re making anything on top of going to school is really impressive.”

You notice Monika glance at you out of the corner of her eye and smirk, but if she has anything to say, she says it to Rose instead of you.

“Thank you,” she replied, beaming. It looks like you’ve found a compliment she enjoys without getting so embarrassed, which you take as a good sign.

She cocks her head to the side and asks, “So, what about you, then? What’s your interest in literature?” She pauses, blinks, and says, “Oh, no, wait, I already asked you that, didn’t I?”

You shrug. “I mean, you did, but I didn’t really get to answer.”

The embarrassment is back as she facepalms and sighs. “Right, yes, I apologize, I got distracted. I’m sorry.”

“It’s no worries!” you say, quick to try and re-direct her. She seems quick to self-blame, so you figure it’s best not to encourage it.

You think about it for a second, then say, “Well, I think I’d put myself pretty firmly in the ‘reader’ category – I don’t think I’ve done any creative writing since like, high school first year. But fiction, nonfiction, manga, web comics, doujinshi – you name it, and I’ve read it. Or I will read it once you tell me about it.”

You want to tack on the unifying theme of the literature you’ve been reading for the past two years or so, but for a second, you forget what Sayori mentioned about this club and wonder if it’s a safe thing to bring up. Maybe it’s just having Rose in the room that’s thrown you into a more heteronormative mindset, but you’re worried Yuri will look down on you if you mention you’ve mostly been reading queer girl fiction almost exclusively lately.

With some relief, you remember what Sayori said, and tack on, “Well, as long as it has gay girls in it, I guess.”

“I-I see,” Yuri replies, her expression unreadable.

Before you can try and figure it out, though, the door opens and Natsuki enters.

“Hey Natsuki!” you and Monika call in unison.

That makes her do a double take, glancing over at the corner you and Yuri are sitting in before waving. “Sup,” she greets, glancing around as if there are not plenty of open spaces before taking a seat across from Monika and Rose, next to where Yuri sits on the couch.

Monika glances at her phone, then says, “Okay, everyone! Sayori says she’s going to be late, so let’s do introductions. I’ll start. I’m Monika, I use she/her pronouns, I’m the club Chair, and the icebreaker for this week is ‘If you were an ice cream, what flavor would you be?’ I’d be peach/mango sorbet.”

She glances over at Rose, who goes next, “Hi. I’m Rose, and I go by they/them pronouns. I’m the club treasurer, and if I were an ice cream, I’d be a caramel Drum Stick.”

Monika hums. “I’m not sure that technically counts as a flavor . . . but it works.”

I’m next in the circle, so I use a pen to wave hello. “Hello everybody. My name’s Amy and I use she/her pronouns. I don’t have any affiliation with the club yet, but, um, I’m a first-year marine biology major. If I were an ice cream flavor, I’m . . . not sure what flavor I’d be. I like strawberry a whole lot though, so probably some kind of strawberry.”

As if to highlight your answer, you swish your tea around and take a sip. It’s still too hot for that to be a smart idea, but it at least smells very good.

Yuri puts a finger to her chin as she thinks. She starts with, “Alright, hello, I’m Yuri. I use she/her pronouns mostly, but any pronouns are fine. I’m just a club member and if I were an ice cream, I would be violet ice cream, or maybe more of a custard if that’s an option?”

If it’s not supposed to be an option, nobody says so. Instead, you just turn your attention to Natsuki, who says quickly: “Hey I’m Natsuki, I use she/her pronouns, I’m a club member but I make all the food, and if I were an ice cream I would be vanilla because it’s my favorite and I don’t care if you think it’s boring.”

Once you’ve gone around the loop, everyone turns their attention back to Monika.

She says, “Well, okay. Now that the fair is out of the way, it’s the start of a new quarter and we really don’t have any activities set up for the coming months. Last quarter we did poetry . . . what would you all like to do this quarter?”

Natsuki says, “Wait, we’re switching? I thought Sayori wanted to keep doing poetry.”

Monika nods, “She does. But we agreed it would be best to switch things up, unless that’s what everyone else would like to keep doing. We’ve still never tried out Rose or Yuri’s recommendations, or yours for that matter. Wouldn’t you like to try something new?”

Natsuki blinks. “Oh. Well. I guess. I thought we were just getting pretty good at it.”

Yuri sits forward in her seat and says, “I agree – the club came a long way in a short time with writing and performing. Is it best to change course now?”

Monika shrugs. “That’s up to all of you, I guess. We’re a broad-scope club, but we can be more focused for the year. Or, we could split our time going forward, like doing poetry writing alongside reading something.”

There’s a moment of quiet until Yuri speaks up again.

“I’d certainly be up for something else, especially if we keep doing creative work. Poetry is fun, but it can also be . . . limiting.” For some reason, she gets quieter and quieter as she talks, barely above a murmur on the last word.

Rose finally speaks up:

“Well, I had an idea, and we’d still get to do poetry if we wanted.”

They pause while everyone’s attention turns towards them. Then, “Like, my idea was we could play a tabletop game, then create poetry and fiction from the perspective of our characters.”

Natsuki says, “Wait, what? How would that work?”

Rose shrugs, but immediately launches into an explanation anyway, “So like, we’d do an adventure in the game, then people could write letters as their characters, or create reports, or write poetry or music about their adventures and stuff. And by the end of the game we’d have a big mix of different media to tell the story with.”

“That’s awesome!”

Everyone glances at you, several of them looking startled as if they had forgotten you were there.

“I know how to draw even if I don’t really know how to write creatively . . . I’d be super up for something like that.” Now that everyone’s looking at you, though, you get a bit more nervous; “At-at least if you all would be?”

You expect resistance from Natsuki, but she’s the first to respond with, “I guess that sounds fine. I don’t really know what I’d do, though.”

Yuri perks up, “You’re really good at rhymes, Natsuki! That’s good for poetry and music, and I’m sure you could use it to make stories fun.”

Without apparently noticing Natsuki’s blush, Yuri continues, “Plus, I would enjoy the chance to write stories from a character’s perspective, so I’m up for it, too.”

Natsuki looks like she wants to say something in reply, but everyone’s attention has turned towards Monika instead. Monika hums quietly for a while, then says, “Well. I guess I know how to compose music, if nothing else. Is this what people want to do?”

Everyone glances around at each other’s expressions, including at you (pointless as that might be), but all that does is get everyone stuck in uncertainty. It takes Natsuki saying, “I guess,” to bring out a murmur of agreement.

“And, unless anyone feels up to it, I could run the game,” Rose says.

It clicks for you then that Rose was just looking for a group of people to run a tabletop game for, but you hardly mind.

Everyone is quick to agree that that is probably best, and most of the remaining meeting just focuses on what game system you’ll be playing, what sort of characters would be fun, and what premise Rose has in mind (none, yet, except maybe a team full of bards in _Dungeons and Dragons_ ).

The meeting is over before you know it, going 20 minutes over before anyone even notices the time. You all pack up your things, chatting in the hallway outside the club room for a few minutes before heading off with Natsuki.

That same evening, you’re still feeling a little girl-crazy from hanging out with the club and get drawn into re-installing a dating app for queer women. You spend a good twenty minutes improving your profile (now with 100% more puns about your invisibility) and adding a picture of your empty desk and calling it a ‘nude’. It’s not long after you’ve started looking through profiles that you come across a familiar curtain of violet hair blocking out most of someone’s face.

> **_Yuri_** _, 21_

Would it make things weird for you to try and match with her? What would you do if you _did_ match? Flirt? Act like you just matched because of the club and not because she’s a cute girl who seems like she’d like a quiet evening reading and drinking tea?

You mull on it for a few minutes, but in the end, you realize you’ll only match if she wants to, too. And, if you’re being bold for a few seconds, she’s your type. You can only wonder if you’re hers.

You match two hours later.

By next morning, you figure you’ll have to be the one to say hello.

> **You:** You know, I do like girls who can sweep me off my feet.  
>  **You:** Even if it means knocking me tf over
> 
> **Yuri:** Hi Amy (◠‿◠✿)  
>  **Yuri:** I really didn’t mean to knock you over, I’m sorry! (>_<)

You’re in class and don’t reply to her immediately, and when you get the chance to, you find another message waiting for you.

> **Yuri:** Your profile is really cute and funny btw! (◕‿◕✿)
> 
> **You:** thanks, you too!  
>  **You:** you’re cute too, I mean  
>  **You:** although your profile is also very cute.
> 
> **Yuri: (** **ﾉ** **≧∀≦)** **ﾉ**
> 
> **You:** um, so super tell me if I’m being weird or making things uncomfortable  
>  **You:** but you seem really cool and I’d like to get to know you better
> 
> **Yuri:** Is this you asking me on a date?   
>  **Yuri:** Is this you asking me on a date? ٩(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)۶*  
>  **Yuri:** Sorry, nearly ruined my façade. Please continue.
> 
> **You:** I think so???  
>  **You:** at the very least, if you’d like to ask me out on a date, I’d say yes
> 
> **Yuri:** Not afraid I’ll drink your blood or something? (◡‿◡✿)
> 
> **You:** “afraid” isn’t really the word I’d use for how I’d feel about that
> 
> **Yuri:** Is that so? (๑✧◡✧๑)
> 
> **You:** mhm.
> 
> **Yuri:** That’s too bad. ɾ⚈▿⚈ɹ  
>  **Yuri:** (also that is very dangerous, and I do not recommend actually letting a vampire drink your blood)  
>  **Yuri:** But okay ♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)♪  
>  **Yuri:** Next week. We could get food . . . or something (❁´‿`❁)*✲ﾟ*  
>  **Yuri:** I don’t actually know what to do for dates around here (˵ ° ~ ° ˵)

You don’t either, for that matter. But if she offered food, she probably eats – and you know she drinks tea!

> **You:** how about we go to a coffee/tea shop? We could work on characters for the game
> 
> **Yuri:** That sounds fun (◠‿◠✿)  
>  **Yuri:** I have class but I’ll talk to you later? (｡✿‿✿｡)
> 
> **You:** totally.

You hold your phone to your chest for a second, a little numb with disbelief with how well that went.

You’ve got a date with Yuri next week. She wasn’t super creeped out when you hinted you’d be into her drinking your blood. Maybe this quarter will work out like you had hoped college would.

You still have no clue what you’re getting into here, but I can hardly blame you for that.


	2. Overexcited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Yuri go on your first date to a little tea shop that definitely isn't a drug front. You get together with the Literature Club on a weekly basis to play a homebrew _Pathfinder_ campaign and have a blast! Yuri has a bit of a weird time during the third session though, and you debrief about it together after the session.
> 
> Chances are very good you'll have a girlfriend by the end of this chapter ^^

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's some smut this chapter. My prediction of my own tags came true.
> 
> Additionally, the homebrew setting Rose uses for the sessions in this fic are based on _Dominion_ a turn-based strategy game based on a mashup of mythologies. You can find a very brief description of the characters in the end notes if you're interested in that sort of thing.

It's been almost a week since you attended your first meeting of the Literature Club, and Yuri finally had the time free to take you out to a place she likes downtown. It's a two-story combination cafe/library that Yuri informs you is used as a heroin distribution front, but they've got a spectacular selection of teas, so she pays that no mind. You do your best to pay it no mind as well, though you can't help but glance around for needles before you sit anywhere at first. The two of you pick out an alcove along the store's facade that's half pillow-covered bench and half bookcase-wall and sit awkwardly drinking tea as the fact that you're on a date with someone you genuinely don't know sets in.

Luckily, you've got at least one thing in common: the club. So you break out your laptop and start looking over the _Pathfinder_ campaign document Rose sent everyone on Discord

"I'm a little surprised Natsuki signed off on this," Yuri remarks as you re-read the premise together.

Spotting your quizzical glance, she adds, "An undead-focused game, I mean. She's not really one for scary stuff, and I imagine undead equals horror?"

You chuckle. "Well, she might not really like horror, but she's good with gore, and I think this is a story where we'll be _killing_ undead, so I don't think it's going to be much spookier than a normal game."

You don't have a very good gauge of how spooky a 'normal game' of _Pathfinder_ is (you've only played d&d 5e, after all), but you imagine that is at most not very much.

"Good point."

Yuri sits with her legs up on the pillows, leaning over to get a look at the screen when she isn't drinking her tea. There are curtains along every wall of the alcove, and one now blocks your view of the rest of the shop, which makes you a little nervous about Yuri's closeness. Though, if she finds anything weird or embarrassing about the minimal space between you, you find no sign of it from her. Most people overcompensated when spending time with someone invisible by giving them extra space, but Yuri seemed to lack this instinct. Not that you mind it.

Yuri's face has turned pensive in the time you've been looking at her, and finally she says, "I wonder what kind of undead we'll be killing, if that's what we're doing. Vampires? They're pretty iconic."

"Oh, I don't think a group full of gay folks is about to kill a bunch of vampires if there's an opportunity to date them," you (mostly) (maybe) joke.

Yuri doesn't laugh, though. She just gives you a sideways glance, eyes as blank as always, and asks, "You really like vampires, huh?"

"Eh? I . . ." you scratch the side of your head, embarrassed. "I guess I had a _Twilight_ phase when I was like, 10, and I just never got totally over vampires."

She tilts her head curiously, but it's enough of a reaction to make you even more self-conscious. "It's not like, a fetish or anything! I just, you know. I like women who can kick my ass."

That earns you a little giggle, and Yuri turns back to looking at the screen. When she doesn't have something in hand (like now), she'll start fiddling with the ends of her hair (like now), but you haven't been able to figure out if it's a nervous tic or if she just likes to keep her hands moving.

A few seconds pass before Yuri quietly replies, "I . . . didn't think it was a fetish thing, anyway."

You don't have much of a reply to that, so you turn your attention back to Rose's document.

After a few more minutes looking it over, Yuri says, "So, this home-brew race. Elf of Tir n'Og? I want to play one of those."

"Oh? What's the character idea?"

She shrugs. "I just think they sound pretty. I don't really know much about the classes or anything."

"Ah, yeah, that makes sense if you've never played D&D or anything. Have you ever seen _Lord of the Rings?_ "

She shakes her head. "I never really watch TV I guess?"

"Hmm." _That does make it a lot harder, yeah._ "I guess we should probably look over the classes then."

While you're opening up the page for that, you say, "I'm thinking of playing a dhamphir - uh, a half-vampire - because," Yuri smirks as you continue, "like. Of all of the settings, an empire run by sentient undead who have enslaved the living seems like one of the coolest set-ups for being half-vampire."

She doesn't say anything, but the smile sticks on her face long enough for you to get self-conscious and go for the first non-vampire-related option you can think of.

"Or, uh, maybe an Ermorian Human? Those are the local humans who've lived under the undead for generations. I figure no one's got as much reason to fight back against the undead as them."

It takes a little while for her smirk to fade, but eventually you can tell she's actively reading the class information.

You figure you can provide some examples to help her figure out a character concept: "So, like, a paladin definitely seems super strong in a game like this - they're good at killing everything evil, but they're all based about a connection to a god that wants them to purge evil. When like, _everything_ is evil, though, it'd hard to ever even become a paladin, I guess. Plus, they use Charisma, and Ermorian humans have a Charisma penalty, so it's a bad combination anyway. They get a bonus to Wisdom, though, so maybe something like . . . a druid?"

"Oh, what do they do?" She quirks her head without looking away from the page.

"Well, they're all about connection to nature and respect for nature. And while death isn't opposed to nature, exactly, undeath is pretty unnatural - er, by _Pathfinder_ standards - so maintaining connection to the natural world would be an interesting role. And I think it fits that whole 'Outcast' origin for humans, the one that says you're raised away from cities and the aristocracy."

"Hmm. That seems neat. I don't really have a clue how to connect the character in my head to the setting beyond being an elf, though. What does being an elf make you good at?"

You pause for a few seconds before opening a few classes in new tabs. "Well, you get bonuses to Dexterity and Wisdom, so that's solid for something like a druid, too. Ranger or cleric also seems good. What's the character in your head like, maybe that can help us narrow it down?"

She sits back, reaching for her tea before realizing she's already finished it off. She takes a few seconds to pout about it before responding: "Well, her name is Lilliandra. She's tall and she's got brown hair and she's kind of like, wispy. She's got intricate tattoos in blue and green ink all over her arms. Also her neck and face maybe? And they make pretty patterns, mostly local flora, I'm thinking mostly vines and trees. She looks kind of soft and delicate but if you look at her hands you can see that she's been fighting for a long time, and her eyes betray a loss, or maybe a betrayal. She smiles a lot but it's never all the way, and when she thinks you're not looking she has a far-off look like she's still seeing her past."

You've been grinning ever since Yuri started talking about the tattoos, but it's not until after she's done talking that she takes notice and looks embarrassed.

"Sorry, that was probably not helpful. I don't have a backstory or anything."

You shake your head. "No, no, that's totally perfect. Your class matters way less than just knowing what your character should _feel_ like, I think. And that stuff about her hands and the betrayal and all that, it actually gives me a good clue of what sort of class would be good."

"Oh?" She looks amused now, and turns to face you on the bench.

"Betrayals are the stock-standard origin for rogues out for revenge. The broader aesthetic of - what was her name?"

"Lilliandra - Lilli for short."

"Lilli - really fits a ranger, though. Natural colors, hard-working, kind of a loner. Plus the stats work out great. Do you know what kind of weapon she would wield?"

Yuri is back to fidgeting with her hair, but now that her mind is really going, she pulls it in front of her face and holds some between her lips. You don't think the fidgeting is so much about nervousness now; it really looks like she just likes to keep her body busy. It's cute. She's _really_ cute.

"Mm . . ." Yuri swipes the hair from her face with a finger so it's out of her mouth. "Definitely a bow, I think. But I also like straight swords, like long swords and bastard swords."

"Perfect! A ranger would be great." You click over to the Ranger page.

After a few moments of reading, Yuri says, "Well, it looks like they're kind of wardens of nature, and that's kind of your thing as a druid, right? I don't want to be redundant."

"That's . . . true. But rangers and druids do really different things."

More curious head-tilting from Yuri, but no questions.

"Like druids, they're kind of like priests of nature. And rangers are more like warriors. They both believe in protecting nature, but they tend to go about it differently and have different reasons for doing it. Plus, we could always just connect our characters somehow, like they're friends or teammates before the game."

Yuri blinks. "We can do that?"

You nod. "Totally!"

Personally, you want to recommend that your characters are dating, or are at least flirtatious, but RP'ing characters like that seems like it might cause trouble if you two don't hit it off dating. Plus, you don't want to come off too strong.

Yuri finally smiles. "That's cool then! That sounds fun. We're a team, then."

"That's the whole idea."

Yuri looks pleased. She's pretty cute all the time, but when she actually gets animated, she's even cuter. You wish you could say you like her smile without sounding like a weirdo telling her to smile, but for now, you're just content to sit close to her while she gets into bringing Lilliandra to life.

Two hours and two cups of tea later and you're totally exhausted from looking at _Pathfinder_ rulebooks online. There's way too many options and everything is math and semantics, far from your favorite things in the world. The game looks like it's at its strongest when you comes up with weird, niche stuff with lots of flavor, and that's how you stumbled into your character concept. You're planning to play a Life Channeler Druid named Astrid, someone who channels the life force of others to enrich the environment. It's really reminiscent of ancient greek ritual sacrifices (plus it's like, _really_ edgy), so you and Yuri both liked it. Astrid and Lilliandra both live in a remote village far, far from the influence of the Ermor Empire, helping the small village live in a desolate land against all odds. You have a few thoughts about them living together at the edge of town like two witches, but you've been hesitant to push the attraction between them unless Yuri brings it up first.

Yuri is cradling her third cup of tea in her fingers, satisfied but quiet. Somehow she's still enjoying drinking the tea as if it's her first one after a long day, while you had to stop after two because it was making you jittery. 

Just as you convince yourself that she's just going to stay quiet and savor her cup of tea, Yuri speaks up:

"Just to clarify - this is a date, right?"

_I guess it hasn't really looked that way, huh? With all the game stuff._

You scratch the side of your head and chuckle nervously. "I mean, I'd like it to be if that's okay. I-"

"It's totally okay."

Her tone takes you by surprise, and you cut off. Her eyes are still closed, but she isn't sipping at her tea anymore. And now that you're paying attention, you can see her hands trembling. Just a little.

Quietly, you ask, "Are _you_ okay?"

"Hm?" She opens one eye. It's impossible for her to trace the line to where you're looking of course, so eventually she just answers, "Yeah."

"I was just wondering," she says, "if you'd like to kiss me?"

After a few seconds of quiet, she looks ashamed and says, "It's fine if you don't, I just-"

"No, no, I'm. You can't really see this but I'm blushing."

"Oh." Whether from embarrassment or surprise, she blushes too - a bit more visibly. Very visibly.

"Sure."

You scoot a little closer while she sets her tea down behind her, then reach up to touch her face. You guide her into looking right at you (though she's quick to close her eyes) and kiss her gently. It only lasts a moment, but once you're apart, she's got a grin on her face.

"Thank you," she says bashfully.

That only makes you laugh (more out of embarrassment than anything), but then you ask, "Do you want to kiss some more?"

She nods vigorously, then taps her legs. "Sit on my lap."

"Okay," you reply, now with a grin of your own. You move her tea cup far away from either of you before straddling her, taking a few seconds to find a spot where it'll be easy to kiss her. Her eyes dart around the area where you are, clearly trying her best to make eye contact, so you reach down, grab her hand, and bring it to your own cheek.

Her palm is warm from the tea, though the rest of her body is far colder than a person. Still, the touch is nice, as she gently strokes your face to feel its shape, to find the contour of your lips. She licks her lips when she feels your breath on her hand (more out of nervousness than any attempt to be seductive, you think), then pulls you down into another kiss. It doesn't take long for this one to devolve into outright making out. She's a wonderful (and very handsy) kisser, one hand quickly finding its way down to your butt while the other ends up stroking, then grabbing your hair. You rock against her appreciatively, drawing out a moan that's definitely inappropriately loud for covertly making out in a tea shop.

She claps a hand over her mouth as you break apart, and you do your best to not burst out laughing. The last thing you want to do is clarify to anyone who heard that that someone else heard it, too. Her skin is flushed like she has a fever, which you would definitely take as a bad sign if she weren't already dead.

"Sorry," you whisper, pressing a small kiss against her forehead.

She squeezes her eyes closed tight in response, shaking her head enough that it flings her hair about. When she finally drops her hand from her mouth, she replies quietly, "No, no, I apologize. I shouldn't have gotten so turned on from something like that."

This time you can't help but laugh, but at least it's quiet. "My bad. I, uh, probably shouldn't have pushed things too much."

She blinks those vacant, dead-gray eyes a few times, apparently baffled. Then she says, "No I - I mean - I mean, I want to keep going."

"Like . . . what do you mean?" It's your turn for a curious head-tilt, not that she can see it. Your hands are still entwined behind her back, leaning on her shoulders a little.

A shy smile creeps up on her face. "I'm, you know . . . do you - do you want to get me off?"

The question hits you like a brick to the face, and were you one of those harem protagonists you despise so much, you would have collapsed to the ground with steam rising from your mouth. Instead, all you can really manage is a nervous look towards the curtain that blocks you off from the rest of the store.

"You mean like . . . here?"

She nods.

Then, when you don't respond immediately, she puts her face in her hands and groans.

"Oh my god, I'm being such a freak. I'm so sorry, please pretend I didn't say anything."

You're honestly not sure what to think. It's deeply hot that someone this hot wants you to get her off at all - the fact that it was a public place was closer to a bonus in your eyes, at least hypothetically. _But . . ._

You stroke her hair like you've been dying to do since you met, giggling. "I don't think you're being a freak, Yuri. I was just a little caught-off guard. But flattered. It just seems . . . like it'd be hard to do anything here without getting caught."

_Plus . . . we barely know each other._

You don't have any serious qualms about having sex with someone you don't know particularly well, especially given that you _will_ get to know Yuri by virtue of the club anyway. She's pretty, and at least into you enough to have asked for a kiss first, even if the ask on the table now is just a side-effect of her being horny in a situation in which you're the only person available. Even with all of that in mind, it's such a step down, intimacy-wise, from the few times you had sex back in high school, that it doesn't feel like the escalation you were anticipating.

Of course, that doesn't mean you're going to say _"no."_

Yuri glances around the alcove you're in, and says, "Well, the curtains block the view of the street as well as the shop, so I don't think that'll be a problem. Plus, I don't actually breathe, and I don't really make sounds involuntarily, so I can be as quiet as I need to be."

There's a layer of nervousness over it, but overall Yuri's tone is matter-of-fact, like she'd been working out the details even as she expected to be rebuked. It throws you off your guard again - for someone so expecting to be rejected, Yuri is quick to adapt when she's encouraged.

"Huh . . . that's handy. - But, wait. You moaning, then?"

It's not a very clear question, but it's at least enough to blush go from pink to scarlet, a shade no human should actually be able to blush (and perhaps, none can).

"I - I just wanted you to know you were doing a good job."

There's something awfully sweet to that, although you're not sure how to articulate it. You haven't totally made up your mind until you kiss her again, and the feeling of her tongue reminds you of how many times you've masturbated thinking about rubbing/jerking/combination rubbing/jerking-off a vampire while they drained your blood (Victoria from _Twilight_ did a real number on you, you're starting to remember).

You break the kiss just long enough to whisper, "Okay. Yeah. I really wanna get you off."

She shivers and grabs your hips when you return to the kiss, though you do your best to start sliding off of her lap. As soon as you have to back off enough to end the kiss, Yuri makes a quick check of all of the curtains, making sure none of them show even a sliver of her.

She's wearing jeans, which is a bit troublesome, but rubbing her off shouldn't be that difficult. You kiss her shoulder and slide your hand over her thigh to the button of her pants, which startles her enough to make her jump.

"Fuck, sorry," she says, "I just. When I can't see or smell you, sudden moves can be a little . . . disconcerting."

"Ooh, yeah," you say, flattening your palm against her belly. She may not be warm, but her body is soft, and that's enough to send an electric tingle all the way form your fingers to your spine. "I guess we don't really have scents unless you're an elemental, huh? Didn't really think about how that must be weird for you."

She starts to reply, but you lean in to kiss her instead, and as soon as her hands have found your body again she relaxes. You wait a few seconds this time, running your fingers over her skin so it's not a surprise when you start to unbutton her pants again. She ends up having to pull her pants down a little, but soon your fingers trace down from her belly to her navel, her navel to her underwear, and you realize she's soaked clean through her panties.

"Like me that much, huh?" you joke, using all of your fingers to rub along the whole wet spot.

Her whole face pinches, clearly embarrassed. "Yeah that . . . happens. I can get a little . . . overexcited about small stuff."

"Well," you whisper beside her ear, "I'm hardly complaining." Normally that takes a lot more work, after all. Maybe you should take Yuri's request seriously - she wants you to get her off, after all, she didn't ask about all the typical steps between that and kissing.

You slip your hand into her panties and run your fingers over her skin and hair just to get the feeling of her in your mind, then take your first shot at running your finger over her clit.

It's plenty enough to get her going, apparently, as she grabs onto your neck as tightly as if she'd fall without it. Her nails scratch right through your skin, and from the sting you know immediately that she's drawn blood. What's worse, as soon as you feel it and give a little cry, you feel a little woozy and slump forward.

Yuri manages to catch you with a, "OhmygodIamsosorry! I didn't mean to cut you!" but the feeling only lasts a few seconds, and then you straighten yourself up, leaning back against the wall. Your hand is still in her pants, so you bring that with you as you scoot back just a little.

"Don't - don't worry, it's not a big deal," you console her, reaching up to the back of your neck to make sure that it is not, in fact, a big deal. Now you've got blood on one hand and vaginal fluid on the other, although not enough to be a problem of either, and you're feeling like you'd be pretty happy just vanishing into thin air (not as hard for you as a lot of people, admittedly).

Yuri's staring with some horror at the blood on her nails, and that's when you remember:

"Oh, god, I'm sorry. It's probably hard for you to be around blood like that."

"What?" She looks up at you now.

"The . . . blood?" you gesture towards her hand with your own bloody hand.

"Oh. Yeah, shit." Her attention returns to her hand with a look of disgust as she scoots further away from you. "I should go wash this."

As she stands up to leave, you interrupt, "It's - it's okay if you'd like to try it."

Another silent head-tilt. Then, "Oh, if that's . . . really all right?"

You nod, then, "Yeah. Totally."

Her smirk returns for a fleeting moment, then she studies her hand for a few seconds before sucking the blood off of each fingertip. Part of you wants to ask her to do that to your hand, too, but you pretty sure she's not getting the erotic thrill out of this that you were aiming for. You're not really getting that thrill either (mostly awkwardness at suggesting it), but you definitely don't _hate_ watching her do it.

You laugh as she's finishing cleaning the blood off her fingers, and she looks at you curiously again.

"This is a really weird first date, huh?"

To your surprise, she recoils at the joke, visibly withdrawing on herself, as if trying to become as small as possible.

_Fuck!_

"No, I - I liked it, I promise."

That softens her expression, although not quite back to the place it was before.

"I hope . . . I didn't scare you," she replies, gentle and quiet.

"Not at all. Just a little scratching, promise."

Speaking of which, you reach up to touch the wound, which stings as soon as you do. "I should . . . probably go clean this anyway."

> **Yuri:** Again I'm really sorry about scratching you like that and being weird in general during the date ~,~  
>  **Yuri:** I hope I didn't scare you off. (◠︿◠✿) I know I can be a little intense.
> 
> **You:** I seriously don't mind! Things don't have to go perfect to be fun, and I had fun, promise.
> 
> **Yuri:** That's good to hear (≧◡≦)
> 
> **You:** although it might be good to lay out ideas of what we're both looking for before hooking up like that?? just so we can know ahead of time what sort of territory is safe to tread into.
> 
> **Yuri:** That's a good idea. ◤(¬‿¬)◥ I'll think about it! and if/when you've got ideas, just hmu.  
>  **Yuri:** I'd like to see you again if you'd like to see me. (▰˘◡˘▰)  
>  **Yuri:** Well, you know what I mean ✿◕ ‿ ◕✿
> 
> **You:** haha yes, yes I do  
>  **You:** yes I do (get what you mean) (want to see you again)
> 
> **Yuri:** Great ^^

_"As you arrive at the front steps of the manor, you come to realize that something is . . . off. Not only have you not seen guards patrolling the ground, but there is no one posted immediately outside. The feeling only intensifies once you get a look at the front door, hanging slightly ajar. A quick look at the nearby windows confirms that the blind are drawn on all of them. What do you do?"_

Natsuki hums to herself for a second.

 _Natsuki:_ "Nicantor is extremely suspicious. I get off my horse and look for signs of a struggle."

Yuri glances at her sheet real quick before chiming in.

 _Yuri:_ "Me too. My Perception is really good."

_"You take a look around this area, and now that you're paying more attention, you see bloody fingerprints on the door handle. You don't find any other signs of a struggle, though."_

Sayori clears her throat.

 _Sayori:_ "Billie says, 'I think we should be careful. This could be a trap.'"

 _Natsuki:_ "Good point. I draw my, uh, chain and move to the door."

Once the party's characters are formed up and head inside the manor, Rose turns back to narration.

_"Your suspicions are confirmed as soon as you open the door the rest of the way. Two guards lie on the floor, their bodies desiccated and fragile-looking. You can't tell what could have harmed them, but they're clearly dead."_

_Natsuki:_ "Billie, Astrid - can one of you tell what happened?"

_"That's a Heal check."_

You get the higher result.

 _You:_ "26 on Heal for me."

_"Okay, Astrid, you've seen this once before. These men suffered life-draining, a special attack primarily used by undead and necromancers. Furthermore, while you're looking over the body, you find a small note that reads 'Welcome.'"_

_Monika:_ "Ooh, spooky."

 _Natsuki:_ "So some undead got the baron and his guys? Figures. Let's keep moving."

_"As you make your way through the halls, you come across more pairs of guards like this, then others - handservants mostly, as well as maids and even a few cooks. Each of them looks like they've dropped where they stood, their bodies drained of life energy. Many of them you find split off from others by little more than a wall or a door, but from the looks of things, none of them caused a commotion as they died; most just look like they were in the middle of something."_

_Yuri:_ "Does that mean something got them all in one hit? Like a ghost or something? That's pretty scary."

 _You:_ "You're right, they might be invisible. And whatever happened must have happened quick . . . have we come across the baron?"

_"You've never seen him before, but none of the bodies have been dressed like a nobleman, so probably not."_

_Sayori:_ "Billie says, 'Why would someone have come here and killed the baron? You know, other than us?"

 _You:_ "The baron may have just been bait for someone else if he's been dead the whole time. How long have these people been dead?"

_"It's hard for you to tell exactly, but from your Heal check earlier, those guards didn't look more than a few hours dead."_

_You:_ "Damn, okay. Maybe someone wanted to stop our meeting for some reason? What do you all think we should do."

 _Natsuki:_ "I don't want to stop looking until we find the baron, at least. I'm pretty sure this was all staged, what with the note."

Everyone agrees after a few moments of deliberating. Eventually, you come to a kitchen.

_"The kitchen is so nightmarish that it takes you a moment to even recognize it for what it is. Blood spatters the walls and pools on the floor, chunks of gore on the floor and counters. Multiple large wooden buckets and sinks are filled with bloody, but ordinary kitchen implements. Blood-soiled clothes have been tossed into the corner, enough for a half-dozen people. It isn't difficult to imagine what happened here, but it is sickening: someone carved up corpses in here, and recently at that."_

Revulsion covers everyone's faces, but no one's more than Yuri's. Her face is paler than usual, if that's even possible, and you can tell she's grinding her teeth. It seems like it's all she can do just to stay rooted in her seat, which surprises you. This isn't the first session where things have gotten grisly, after all (though this is the worst of it so far).

You don't spend long exploring it before moving through the double doors at the other end of the kitchen.

_"The doors open up into a sumptuously decorated dining hall. Two bright chandaliers hang from a high ceiling, making this the brightest room you've come through. Unfortunately, that only serves to highlight the horror of what you're seeing - the entire twenty-five foot long table is covered in dishes, almost all of which are of human flesh. Some of it has been carved up enough to be deniable, but even more of it is entire appendages, like human hands stacked on a silver platter. It isn't a mess like the kitchen was, but that does little to detract from the slaughter - and, more importantly, the person clearly behind it._

_"She's small, with purplish-blue skin, white hair, and brightly-colored tattoos running down her forearm. She wears a red gown fit for a party in the capital, though it has been soiled with blood. It's not hard to understand its source, either, as she looks up from a whole arm she'd been biting through, setting it down and wiping her mouth with a napkin. Directly in front of her sits the severed head of the baron, his corpse leaning over onto the table from the chair at the head of the table."_

_You:_ "Uh, holy shit."

 _Natsuki:_ "Needless to say, I brandish my, uh, chains and ask, 'Who are you?', making sure all of my companions can get into the room after me."

_"The woman smiles as you speak, standing up from her seat. 'Welcome! Welcome friends, I'm so glad you're finally here. Be not afraid; I've come for your own best interests, after all."_

Yuri lets out an unsteady breath that draws everyone's attention. When she sees everyone staring, she seems to shrink in her seat, embarrassed.

"Sorry," she says, "I need a little break. I'll be right back."

She's out of the room before anyone can respond, so you all just turn back to each other.

Rose swats their own forehead. "Ugghh, I knew the gore might have been too much. Is it too much?"

Natsuki shakes her head. "No, no, I think it's cool, just . . ." she glances at the door to the club room. "I think, okay, maybe it was too much. I think the gore helps distract from the creepiness, but I think Yuri would have found horror easier."

You laugh for a second, getting up to stretch for a second. "Funny you'd say that. Yuri said the same thing about you before we started. That you'd prefer gore over like, atmospheric horror."

She sticks her tongue out at you. Then, "Well . . . I guess." Then, so quietly you can only really hear it because you're standing right next to her, "I just want to make sure she's having a good time, is all."

Sayori sticks both of her hands up in the air, excited. "I think she sounds hot! The scary demon lady, I mean. She totally might eat us but - hot!"

Monika giggles, although her face is pained. "That makes it sound like you've got a vore fetish."

Sayori still hasn't dropped her hands. "I don't! But I _do_ have a big-scary-lady fetish."

You raise your hands up in solidarity with a, "Big mood!"

That makes Monika and Rose laugh, but Natsuki only groans and says, "You guys are gross," until the laughing dies down and you and Sayori drop your hands.

Sayori starts pressing for specifics on how hot this yet-unnamed hot demon lady is, which draws Monika's attention away for a moment. Meanwhile, you drop back down to your seat and face Natsuki.

"I'm glad you're watching out for Yuri though," you tell her.

She nods. "You probably don't really know this, but Yuri engaged with the group very little last quarter, even though she showed up to every meeting. I'm just . . . surprised she's hanging around so much more now."

You have an inkling that might have something to do with yourself, which pleases you more than a little.

"I'm glad, then. I hope the gore isn't too much of a turn-off."

She nods again. "Yeah, me too."

Yuri returns a moment later, and as soon as Rose has made sure she's feeling OK and wants to continue the scene, the game is back on.

 _Monika:_ "Meredith steps forward, clearly suspicious and, like, I'm staying on the opposite side of the table as her. And I ask, 'Who are you? And what do you mean by our best interests? Did you kill all those people.'"

_"She doesn't take much notice of your hostility or questions, and doesn't really respond to the fact that you're all pointing weapons at her. She raises her fingers one at a time as she responds: 'My name is Rae'ithel, but you can call me Rae. I'm a succubus; I'm sure you've heard of my kind before. And that should answer your question as to what I've done to these people - I was in a rush, after all. As for your best interests, well, I could hardly let you fall into our dear baron's trap now could I? What good are you to me dead?'"_

_Natsuki:_ "Ha! It was a trap, told you. I say, 'The baron really did intend to assassinate us at this dinner, then?'"

_"Rae nods. 'And he would have. He procured the help of six assassins for this very purpose - they are the ones who sit before you, after all. But I've handled them. You see, where the baron saw you as obstacles, I see a wonderful opportunity. Please sit, we have much to discuss."'_

It takes you a moment of deliberation, but you all eventually do sit. Lilliandra is predictably unfazed by all the human flesh, even if Yuri is clearly not, while the rest of the characters are pretty openly disgusted. You sit Astrid next to Lilliandra as a show of solidarity, while everyone else drags their chairs away from the table, sitting opposite of Rae. Sayori and Natsuki's characters are both tieflings, but they're both hell-aligned, so typically anti-demon. You don't really know enough about Meredith and Nicantor to guess what their opinion on actually listening to a demon, but you think everyone else's characters are at worst neutral to the prospect.

_"'As I said before, thank you all for coming. I was worried you would anticipate the baron's trap and simply flee the area, but whether you're simply stupid or stupidly bold, this works out much easier. You see, I've taken an interest in your little group ever since the events of Oath Hill.'"_

_Yuri:_ "Oh, shit."

 _You:_ "How do you know about that? Everyone involved is either dead or . . . us."

_"She chuckles. 'Perhaps, but how would I not know? It is the five of you who are responsible for returning the domain of Repose back to Ermor. You gave a dead man rest, and an opportunity for his soul to be judged. Do you know how rarely the souls of Ermor's subjects ever meet judgement?'"_

You: _"Are you . . . happy about that? Why does that matter to you?"_

_"'To put it plainly, only the souls of those who are judged can ever be found guilty. Wrath, pride, greed, lust - these things all mean little if one cannot be damned for it.'"_

Sayori raises her hand.

 _Sayori:_ "Billie raises their hand and says, 'Sorry, I don't think I understand what you mean.'"

_"Roll a Knowledge: Religion check."_

_Sayori:_ "18?"

_"That's good enough. While you're not a priest of the repose domain, and Sarenrae doesn't include repose in her portfolio, you know enough about the nature of souls to get an idea of what she means. When someone dies, if their soul is able to pass on, they eventually are judged by Pharasma, goddess of death. Repose is primarily her domain, but she has no power in Ermor because souls never achieve final rest. Pharasma's judgement decides where a soul goes, like Heaven, Nirvana, or hell. Or, the abyss, which is where demons are made from people's sins."_

Sayori: _"Except, in Ermor, no one gets judged, so no more demons get made?"_

_"Exactly."_

It clicks for everyone at basically the same time, and you all give your "Oohs" of appreciation. It's all starting to come together.

 _Sayori:_ "Billie says, 'So, wait. You're glad we restored the Repose domain because now . . . people can become demons."

_"Rae smirks. 'Become demons? Not so simple as that. I simply desire that everyone - everyone - meets the end they ultimately deserve. Having your soul destroyed so some necromancer can have an army, now that, that is a waste, and it makes the pure and the virtuous the same as the vile and the wicked. Isn't that a shame?'"_

_You:_ "So you're . . . thanking us?"

_"She nods. 'To start. Of course . . . I see no reason why your work must stop there. There are millions of souls wasted in Ermor, their bodies made to conquer and enslave while they become nothing, just wasted energy. Wouldn't you like to put a stop to that? Wouldn't you like to help me put a stop to that?'"_

Natsuki's eyes narrow in suspicion.

 _Natsuki:_ "You want us as pawns."

_"The smirk is just a plain smile now. 'Of course. You're weak now, but you could be powerful one day. And I could use powerful people by my side . . . and in my bed.' She leers at Billie as she says this."_

Sayori herself blushes while pretty much everyone else cringes. NPC flirting is always awkward. Plus, you're pretty sure that would turn Bile (Sayori's character's given name) into one of the corpses you saw throughout the manor, although you don't plan on saying as much.

 _Sayori:_ "I . . . uh. Um."

She's clearly too flustered to respond, but at least it fits her character, too.

 _Natsuki:_ "Keep your hands off our teammate and we can talk."

 _Sayori:_ "I don't think Billie would mind, though?"

 _You:_ "Rae's a succubus. I think if you sleep with her you die like, automatically."

Sayori gives Rose a pout, but they just shrug in response.

After another half-hour of bickering among yourselves, you eventually agree that teaming up with Rae is at least the _coolest_ option, if not the safest. Not to mention that Sayori is down (and won't stop reminding you that she's down) to have Billie become Rae's pet or whatever. The session wraps with Rae teleporting away, leaving a calling card for all of you behind, and then you all bailing from the manor before people see that everyone inside has been butchered. It's a good session, with maybe the exception of finding out that Sayori's interests overlap a little too heavily with your own for comfort.

> **You:** So, what did you think of session 3?  
>  **You:** I feel like Rose is nailing it so far
> 
> **Yuri:** I had a lot of fun! I know I don't talk a lot but I think the game is really cool. (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و
> 
> **You:** Awesome! Me and Natsuki were worried you were having a bad time.
> 
> **Yuri:** awww, Natsuki was worried about me? That makes me happy (▰˘◡˘▰)  
>  **Yuri:** but no, to be honest I was . . . really turned on for a bit (๑•́‧̫•̀๑)
> 
> **You:** oh? lol  
>  **You:** like Rae that much?
> 
> **Yuri:** I thought she was really cool! ❀◕ ‿ ◕❀ I'm not sure I liked her quite as much as Sayori did, but . . .  
>  **Yuri:** Something got me going, I guess <(^^,)>
> 
> **You:** this reminds me. I guess we never really followed up about what we were looking for. Hooking-up or otherwise.  
>  **You:** as much as I'm really down to hear what turns on you, I guess I just want to be clear?
> 
> **Yuri:** I guess you're right.. (☉‿☉✿)  
>  **Yuri:** Well, um. okay ԅ[ •́ ﹏ •̀ ]و  
>  **Yuri:** I like you, I think. I know we don't know each other that well, but like you said, I want to get to know you better! I'm sorry if I came on strong during our first date, but I think you're... interesting. (❁´‿`❁)*✲ﾟ* In a good way. So I guess if you want to hook up, or date, or, something... I think all of those sound okay. (◕‿◕✿)
> 
> **You:** Okay. I'm very glad to have a clearer picture of what you're up for ^^ And honestly, all of those sound good to me, too.  
>  **You:** But if I could pick, I think I'd like to go on some more dates with you! You seem nervous that I'll think you're weird or something, but I really don't. I think your enthusiasm is really endearing. And if we keep hanging out and dating doesn't seem right for us, we can choose to do something that suits us better instead. 
> 
> **Yuri:** !!! ヾ(＠⌒▽⌒＠)ﾉ I really like the way you said that  
>  **Yuri:** Okay. ♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)♪ I'd be up for dating some more.  
>  **Yuri:** Does that make you my girlfriend? (⊙‿⊙✿)
> 
> **You:** Sure, if you'd like me to be <(^_^)>
> 
> **Yuri:** I'd be honored! ヽ(〃＾▽＾〃)ﾉ
> 
> **You:** What should I call you, then?
> 
> **Yuri:** Ooo, good question. (¬‿¬)  
>  **Yuri:** Girlfriend is okay. I also think datemate is pretty cute tbh. ≧◡≦ 'Theyfriend' sounds a little silly I think but it's okay. (◕‿◕✿)  
>  **Yuri:** I also really liked to be called 'babe' and 'baby' just like, as a heads up... >‿‿◕
> 
> **You:** I like those pet names too.. but then again, I kinda just like pet names
> 
> **Yuri:** I'll come up with some for you then ★~(◡‿◕✿)
> 
> **You:** Aw, thanks babe
> 
> **Yuri:** (✿ ♥‿♥)  
>  **Yuri:** and you know, come to think of it, you gave me a nude the first day we started talking. It only seems fair that I trade you one back. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) May I?

You're just sitting on your bed across from Natsuki, who's busy watching something on her laptop with her head phones in. She hasn't picked up on any of the expressions you've been making so far, so she probably won't notice how you respond to a nude of Yuri, right? And if Yuri just sends you a joke picture like you had on your profile, then laughing at a text message is hardly enough to make her suspicious. Plus . . .

> **You:** I'd love that
> 
> **Yuri:** Good, because I already took it. (◕‿-)

Thirty seconds later, you get a notification for a photo. You take one more glance at Natsuki, then hide your phone behind your hand as if she could somehow see the screen even though it's faced away from her. Then, you swipe the message open.

And it's not a joke. It clearly wasn't taken in the moment - it's sometime during the day, with light streaming in through a nearby window. Yuri is laying on her bed, hair wet from a shower, with an almost pensive expression on her face. It looks fragile, beautiful, serene, and she's really fucking hot and now you're dating. Holy shit. Holy shit!

> **You:** Honestly thank you so much.  
>  **You:** You're drop-dead gorgeous
> 
> **Yuri:** Thank you  
>  **Yuri:** oh my fucking god ಠ▃ಠ that was a pun wasn't it. (┛❍ᴥ❍ )┛彡┻━┻ inexcusable.  
>  **Yuri:** But really, thank you, you're sweet (n˘v˘•)¬  
>  **Yuri:** I think I need to get to bed but.. I'm glad we talked (▰˘◡˘▰)
> 
> **You:** Me too :) Goodnight Yuri
> 
> **Yuri:** Good night, Amy ♥‿♥

You lay your phone down on your chest, relaxing in the happy moment. Tonight you feel like the luckiest girl in the world, and not even I would begrudge you that.

Good night, you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Pathfinder Party**  
>  Amy - Ermorian Human Druid (Life Channeler) named Astrid  
> Yuri - Elf of Tir n'Og Ranger (Fortune Finder) named Lilliandra  
> Monika - Half-elf bard (Dirge Bard) named Meredith  
> Sayori - Hellspawn Tiefling Priest of Fire and Light named Bile (Billie) of the Left Hand  
> Natsuki - Shackleborn Tiefling Cavalier (Ghost Rider) named Nicantor Cavea
> 
> \--
> 
> Come talk to me about what more you'd like to see in the Literature Club!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey you! I hope I've piqued your interest in the Literature Club - or at the very least, in Yuri. If you're looking forward to your date, or you want to let me know how this storytelling style is working for you, just let me know. I may be in control of this story, but I want you to have fun if you're here for the ride.


End file.
